July 6, 2020 5.07 pm This story is over 44 months old

Man jailed for posting revenge porn pics of his girlfriend

The pair had several arguments
| Photo: File / The Lincolnite

A Lincolnshire man has been jailed for posting ‘revenge porn’ pictures of his girlfriend.

Shane Boyton, 41, of College Close in Holbeach, Spalding, moved in with the woman earlier this year, but after only a few days of living together in Peterborough, things turned sour.

Boyton became aggressive with the woman after arguing with his friend on the afternoon of March 19. She asked him to leave, which he did, only to return 10 minutes later in a recovery truck.

He attached a winch to the front door and tried to open it whilst shouting that he wanted his stuff.

After being asked to come back later when he was calmer, Boyton pulled the letterbox off the door using the winch before leaving.

He came back yet again a few minutes later in a white van, which he used to hit the front door of the house. He got out of the van and picked up a wooden table leg from the front garden, which he used to hit the front window of the house.

The pair argued about the broken window on March 30 and he later messaged her implying he didn’t want to be with her anymore. She accepted this and blocked him on social media and told him to “take care”.

Boyton responded by constantly phoning her and he said: “Pick up the phone or people will start getting pictures of you.”

The woman received messages from her friends who had been sent pictures of her that were of a sexual nature. She then accessed Boyton’s Facebook page, which she had previously set up for him. She deleted the photos and changed the password to stop him logging back in.

When he was arrested on April 1, he claimed in a police interview to have used the recovery truck to “pull a tree in the front garden”.

He admitted using the transit van to hit the woman’s house, but argued it was a wall instead of the front door and that it was not intentional. He also initially denied posting private sexual photographs of the woman on social media, claiming he had no access to the account.

He later pleaded guilty to criminal damage and disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress. He was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison when he admitted the offences on Wednesday, July 1.

DC Mat Belfitt from Cambridgeshire Police, who investigated, said: “The level of harm caused by sharing private sexual photographs should not be underestimated, especially if they are shared by someone you know or trust.

“While this is a fairly rare charge, it is incredibly serious, and I hope this case highlights how severely the courts and police take offences of this nature.

“The overall course of events against this woman were, no doubt, very frightening and I hope she is able to get some closure now Boyton is behind bars.”